The second to last episode of the season kicks off with a really good recap of the fallout from Husky Harris' elimination last week. It's almost a shame that the WWE's video production staff's talents are being wasted on professional wrestling.

The three finalists come to the ring and Striker gives them each an opportunity to talk about how it feels to have made it to the finals.

Michael McGillicutty says it feels great and that he's gay for Kofi Kingston. Also, his dad used to wrestle for the WWE.

Alex Riley expected to be in the finals and in two weeks, his pro, The Miz, will have the Money in the Bank Contract, whereas Riley will have the NXT guaranteed PPV title match contract and it's only a matter of which of them gets to Sheamus first.

Kaval whines about being attacked by Cody Rhodes last week and challenges him to a match. Cody denies his request but MVP gets in Cody's face. Cody appears to be shoot-bored and wishes MPV would shut the fuck up, but I could just be projecting my own feelings here.

If the rankings were determined by these promos, Riley, with an adequate promo is the clear winner. McGillicutty comes in second for only being boring and Kaval makes the best case yet as to why they need to bring back managers.

The challenge this week is WWE trivia. A stand is setup on the stage with one buzzer because despite all the impressive technical displays put on every week by the WWE, they can't manage to find a triple buzzer setup. (Here's a hint, most high schools will have one used by their academic bowl teams.)

Round One (Questions Worth 100 Points)Q: Who competed in the classic iron man match at Wrestlemania XII in 1996?A: Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. (McGillicutty gets this one but struggles to remember Hart.)

Q: Pete Gas, Joey Abs and Rodney were members of what group?A: The Mean Street Posse. (Kaval gets this one.)

Q: What WWE superstar's entrance theme starts with the lyrics 'You Think You Know Me.'?A: Edge. (All 3 rookies slap the buzzer but McGillicutty's hand is on the bottom.)

Q: Which other billionaire did Mr. McMahon wager his hair against?A: Donald Trump. (Kaval started to slap the button at the word billionaire but pulled back and allowed McGillicutty to answer it.)

Q: The Killswitch is the finishing maneuver of which WWE superstar?A: Christian (Kaval got this one but I can't believe nobody could anticipate the answer as soon as the word Killswitch was mentioned.)

Q: HHH's theme music is performed by which band?A: Motorhead. (McGillicutty buzzed in first and incorrectly guessed Rob Zombie. Kaval then beat Riley to the buzzer with the correct answer. McGillicutty just future endeavored himself by confusing HHH w/ Edge.)

That's the end of Round One. The score is McGillicutty 300, Kaval 300, Riley 0.

Round Two (Questions Worth 200 Points)Q: Who was the first Intercontinental Champion?A: Pat Patterson (Kaval)

Q: Which current WWE diva won the 2007 Diva Search?A: Eve. (McGillicutty answered this one correctly, I didn't bother to factor in years and just assumed it was Layla.)

Q: What mode of transportation did the Dynamic Dudes primarily utilize?A: Skateboards. (Nobody buzzed in at first. Kaval finally ventured a guess of surf boards. "Not surfboards, but...." hints Striker. Riley excitedly buzzes in for the very first time. "Boogie boards!" and Striker is openly mocking him at this point while Josh chimes in with "How would you ride a surfboard to the ring?"

The big story here is that since this is WWE trivia, that means Vince has now revised history so that the Dynamic Dudes were now in the WWE. No word on Dusty Rhodes' presidency, however.)

Q: Which WWE superstar has a record nine WWE championship title reigns?A: HHH. (Riley finally gets one right, just in time for the game to be over.)

Final Score: Kaval 700, McGillicutty 500, Riley 200

Kaval's prize is a feature on WWE.com similar to the one Skip Sheffield got last season, except Kaval will have his while people are going to the site to vote on this season's winner. (I kept typing year instead of season, seems like it was considerably longer than four months ago.)

Montel Vontavius Porter vs Dashing Cody RhodesGood back and forth match which lasted exactly 24 minutes from bell to bell. Cody picks up the clean victory with Cross Rhodes in what I assume is the longest match in NXT history.

It could be interesting if they added the M.V.P/Jack Swagger rivalry to the burgeoning Matt Hardy/Christian vs Drew McIntyre/Cody Rhodes feud. Maybe even throw in Kofi Kingston & Dolph Ziggler and you've got 8 solid midcarders (well, 7 + MVP) who could be matched up in almost any combination and put on an entertaining match.

It seems a bit odd that the rookies didn't even appear in the last half of the show prior to the finale but it was a decently watchable episode regardless.

I thought Kaval did the best promo by far. Aside from repeating WWE Universe an awkward amount, it was a real wrestling interview challenging someone with conviction and talking about pro wrestling stuff naturally. Riley's interviews have great delivery but say nothing except for this empty meta stuff like "I'm going to get over because I am good at playing a character." Plus Kaval sonned Riley bad with the impromptu burn about the Varsity Villain spending more time on the field than in the classroom, which was so quick and good that even Cole popped for his "hated" guy embarrassing his favorite guy.

Next time WWE decides to throw out a 25 minute match on their TV they should put one of their best guys in it instead of two of their average guys.

Originally posted by InVerseIt could be interesting if they added the M.V.P/Jack Swagger rivalry to the burgeoning Matt Hardy/Christian vs Drew McIntyre/Cody Rhodes feud. Maybe even throw in Kofi Kingston & Dolph Ziggler and you've got 8 solid midcarders (well, 7 + MVP) who could be matched up in almost any combination and put on an entertaining match.

You're just not an MVP fan, are you? Fair enough, though. I loved him back when he debuted, he was such a douche heel and still maintained his cool. He showed he could hang with Benoit, then had that nice feud Matt Hardy, and then... started losing. And then they turned him face and sent him to Raw, and he just lost his edge. Seems like he lost motivation as well; he just doesn't have the same snap in his stuff in the ring. He could've become the black star the WWE seems to be trying to create, but then they went out and pulled the rug from under him. Now, I fear, the bus has left for an MVP revival. I miss the old MVP.

Originally posted by JustinShapiroI thought Kaval did the best promo by far.

I agree.

As far as the trivia is concerned, I have to say that the questions indeed weren't that tough and I was shocked that nobody seemed to know the answer to the first question (iron man match) at first. Kaval did a great job here, as did McG.

I skipped the main event, but maybe now will have to watch it nevertheless, because of some good reviews I read about it.

The best thing about this season of NXT is instead of doing the typical angle of Laycool mistreating Kaval and him slowly smoldering about it, they've done something much less expected and have them really love him and get excited about everything he does (and I guess, in the context of NXT, turn them de facto babyfaces). It's adorable!